


And They Were Roommates

by dreamchasers



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Enemies to Lovers, Frenemies, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Soccer Player Donghyuck, Volleyball Player Jaemin, very mild angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-13
Updated: 2019-12-13
Packaged: 2021-02-26 18:27:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21703009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreamchasers/pseuds/dreamchasers
Summary: Donghyuck and Jaemin are juniors in college, as well as student athletes. Jaemin once hit Donghyuck in the head with a volleyball their freshmen year, which led to all of this chaos of feelings. Oh, and they share a room.
Relationships: Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Na Jaemin
Comments: 4
Kudos: 105
Collections: ’00 FIC FEST: ROUND ONE





	And They Were Roommates

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt #0064
> 
> This was such a fun project and I hope you enjoy, if not please give criticism. This is my first time writing in a while so I hope it is good.

November 26, 2019  
“I’m home!” Jaemin announces as he enters his dorm room  
“You’re a piece of shit.”

Jaemin turns to see Donghyuck standing in the bathroom door fuming.

“What’d I do this time?” Jaemin asks, grinning.  
“That stupid volleyball party? The night of my championship game. That’s what you did,” Donghyuck says slowly, trying to keep himself composed.  
“What makes you think it was my idea?”  
“You literally tweeted about how you’re throwing a party at Jaehyun and Jinsoul’s house.”

At this Jaemin just shrugs and walks towards Donghyuck.

“I’m actually going to punch you if you get any closer,” Donghyuck says, glaring up at Jaemin.

Jaemin is only slightly terrified of Donghyuck in this instant, which is odd considering that he has actually been punched by Donghyuck before. Nonetheless, he walks towards his bed and plops himself onto it.

“Sorry, but I don’t get what the big deal is. It’s just a party-” Jaemin starts, looking directly at Donghyuck.  
“It’s a big deal because it’s our championship game! Now no one is going to go because they want to gawk at the Jungs instead! Almost the entire cheer team except Heejin is going to the party instead and that’s only because her girlfriend is playing! Stupid Mark Lee is going to your party when he promised me he would come!” Donghyuck rants, pacing back and forth in their small dorm.  
“Oh,” Jaemin laughs, “You have a thing for Mark, that’s why you’re so mad.”  
“Shut up,” Donghyuck glares, “It’s none of your business who I find attractive.”  
“Well it is my business when it makes you mad at me,” Jaemin replies.  
“Everything makes me mad at you,” Donghyuck sighs, plopping himself onto his bed.

Their room is silent for a few minutes, allowing them both, but mainly Donghyuck, to calm down. 

“I’m sorry,” Jaemin says, staring at Donghyuck from his bed.  
“No you’re not,” Donghyuck scoffs, turning to face Jaemin.  
“Yeah I’m not,” Jaemin laughs.

Besides himself, Donghyuck laughs along with Jaemin. Every time they fight, they always end up like this. Laying down ten feet apart, laughing when the other one does and not stopping until one falls asleep. 

But tonight is different. There’s a tension in the air that usually doesn’t exist.

“It’s still not your business, but I’m not interested in Mark. Jeno is. He’s one of my best friends and I know he’ll be so hurt if he doesn’t see Mark there,” Donghyuck says.  
“Well then obviously Jeno could do better if Mark was so easily swayed,” Jaemin replies.  
“Oh and I couldn’t?” Donghyuck asks jokingly.  
“You have an enormous ego, you already know you could do better than Mark Lee.”  
“Oh yeah, like who?” Donghyuck asks, his eyes shutting.  
“A lot of people. Yukhei if he wasn’t in love with Renjun and vice versa. Jeno is pretty cool. Felix has a huge crush on you. Chaewon also has a huge crush on you. Yuna too but she’s a baby. I think I heard Lia likes you too. I’d say Yangyang but you’re both Satan spawns,” Jaemin rambles.  
Jaemin then goes to make eye contact with Donghyuck but realizes that he’s already fallen asleep due his shut eyes, quiet snores, and curled up sleeping position.

“Or me,” Jaemin says softly, turning onto his back to fall asleep.  
  
November 27, 2019  
Life continues on. Donghyuck is still mildly angry with Jaemin, as per usual. Jaemin just tries to ignore any thought of Donghyuck unless they are in the same room, which is extremely difficult for him. It’s an interesting relationship, but it works. Jaemin will go to volleyball practice, leaving Donghyuck alone in their room and vice versa when Donghyuck has soccer practice. Sometimes when one person has a game and the other is free, the other will go to watch. It’s an interesting relationship.

Especially because Donghyuck hasn’t seen Jaemin since their fight about the party. He has gone without seeing or bickering with Jaemin for just one day and thinks he might just lose his mind. Well that along with sleep deprivation. 

To his surprise, Donghyuck came back to his dorm after class to Jaemin lying on his bed in a fetal position. 

“Dude, wrong side of the room,” Donghyuck scoffs, sitting down on his bed by Jaemin’s feet.  
“I’m in pain and I’m baby leave me alone,” Jaemin replies, not moving.  
“Do I need to fight Yukhei again?” Donghyuck asks, slipping his shoes off and moving around until he is laying down on his bed next to Jaemin.  
“No, I just sprained something. I’ll live.”

The two make eye contact and smile softly at each other, both absolutely exhausted in different ways and for different reasons.

“Did practice end early? Or did you just come back early because you got hurt?” Donghyuck asks, wrapping his arms around Jaemin’s torso.  
“Yukhei carried me back here as part of his warm up after I fell,” Jaemin chuckles before slightly grimacing.   
“Are you okay?”  
“I’m fine, lets just sleep.”

It’s an interesting relationship. 

November 28, 2019  
But then they’re fighting again. 

“How dare you show up at my work and claim to be my boyfriend!” Donghyuck yells as he enters their dorm.  
“Well sorry, it looked like you were uncomfortable and I was trying to save you from rejecting that girl,” Jaemin replies, eyes not leaving his phone.  
“I gave her my number! I was genuinely interested in Yeji and you ruined any chance I had with her!”

Donghyuck throws his work uniform at Jaemin and fall onto his own bed face first.

“Ouch, someone’s not feeling the best. Want me to kiss you better?”

Donghyuck lifts his head to glare at Jaemin, who was just grinning. 

“Why?” Donghyuck asks, sitting up. “What possible reason could you have had for costing me my first date in months? Do you enjoy the idea of me dying alone? What is it?”  
“It’s not that,” Jaemin sighs. “I just felt weird watching you flirting with that girl.”  
“Oh.”  
“Yeah, it just made me feel bad about being alone when I saw that. Sorry.”  
“Oh,” is all Donghyuck says, but this time much more dejected. “It’s whatever, if it’s meant to be she’ll just text me anyways.”  
“Yeah,” Jaemin says, fidgeting around with his hands. “I have to go to practice.”  
“Okay.”

And that was all.

November 29, 2019  
The next day they only see each other in passing. They’re both in the dorm momentarily to get ready, with Jaemin getting ready for the drive to another school while Donghyuck is lucky enough to be playing on his own field, he just wants to practice on his own beforehand.

“Good luck,” is all Jaemin says to Donghyuck before walking out to get to the van.  
“Right back at you.”

Donghyuck gets back to the dorm around nine and leaves almost immediately after because of the room’s deafening silence. Jaemin gets back about ten minutes after Donghyuck had left and was too tired to even question it.

November 30, 2019  
Jaemin wakes up in the afternoon, which confuses him. Usually when Donghyuck and him both have Friday games, they’d go out to breakfast Saturday morning.

He knows Donghyuck doesn’t usually do anything on Friday nights, so getting up and seeing the room completely void of him made him even more confused. 

Now that Jaemin thinks about it, he doesn’t think Donghyuck was in their dorm last night when he got back.

Jaemin didn’t get to spend much time thinking about where Donghyuck could be, because almost immediately the door opened to reveal Donghyuck, putting all of his body weight on Kunhang who looks so completely done with life. 

“Oh thank god you’re here, take him,” Kunhang sighs, carrying Donghyuck over to his bed and basically just throwing him onto it.  
“What happened to him?” Jaemin asks, furrowing his brows.  
“He drank more than he could handle last night, woke up this morning with a massive hangover, and decided to drink even more. So he’s some weird mix between drunk off his ass and hungover. Enjoy.”

Kunhang goes to leave their dorm with the biggest grin on his face.

“Oh,” Kunhang says, turning around before he closes the door, “He gets clingy when he’s hungover.”

And with that, he’s gone.

The next few hours are honestly fine, Donghyuck is just sleeping and occasionally whines for Jaemin to get him water or a snack. Before Jaemin knew it, it’s late at night and despite waking up late and not doing much today, he just wants to pass out. 

Donghyuck has other plans. 

As soon as Jaemin lays down on his bed and covers himself with a blanket, Donghyuck migrates over to Jaemin’s bed and sprawls himself on top of the other boy.

“Hyuck,” Jaemin groans, attempting to push him off, “What the fuck do you want now?”  
“I’m cold,” Donghyuck says, clinging onto Jaemin now.  
“Okay then you could’ve asked for a blanket.”  
“You’re so much warmer though.”

Donghyuck uses Jaemin’s exhaustion to his advantage, slipping under the blanket to hold Jaemin closer.

“Have you always been this clingy?” Jaemin asks, turning himself slightly to look at Donghyuck.  
Definitely, just not with you,” Donghyuck grins, adjusting himself closer to Jaemin to the point where their noses are touching. 

Jaemin’s breath hitches and feels completely incapable of moving. Donghyuck, however, faces no such problem as he puts a hand in Jaemin’s hair.

“Can I kiss you Jaem?” Donghyuck

Jaemin nods, shutting his eyes once he feels Donghyuck’s hand on his cheek. Jaemin forces himself forward until he feels Donghyuck’s breath on his lips and eventually Donghyuck’s lips on his own. Jaemin manages to kiss back, despite the mental distress his tiny gay brain is under at the moment and the fact that he’s kissing a boy he’s loved since his freshman year of college.

Eventually Donghyuck stops kissing back and Jaemin pulls back, opening his eyes to look at the other boy. Donghyuck’s eyes remained shut and his lips were open slightly, breathing deeply.

Jaemin shakes his head and sighs, getting up to go back to his own bed. He gently places a blanket on Donghyuck and smiles softly at him, then lies down in his own bed where he finds sleep rather easily.

December 1, 2019  
The next day is underwhelming to say the least. Donghyuck goes to work early in the morning and Jaemin finds a note on his bed from Donghyuck.

_Hey, sorry about last night. I get weird when I’m hungover_  
_and I’m sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable last night or_  
_you felt like you had to kiss me to get me to shut up or something._  
_Let’s please just ignore that it ever happened._  
_-Donghyuck ♡_

After reading the note, Jaemin feels his heart break. He slumps down onto the floor where he previously stood, curling himself into a ball. Tears fall down his face slowly and eventually dry up on his face as he keeps letting them fall and stay where they are. 

Jaemin stays like this for what felt like hours to him, but in truth was only ten minutes or so. He eventually gets up and gets ready to leave his room, Donghyuck and his room. He knows he can’t stay here alone for the rest of the day and just wait for Donghyuck to get home so they can get into another fight. So he goes to the only other place where he feels at home, Yukhei and Yangyang’s room.

It’s a short walk to his teammates’ dorm, he walks down the long hallway and up a small flight of stairs to the next story up. When he gets to their door he doesn’t bother to knock and just opens the door.

“Ew it’s you,” Yangyang jokes, laying down on his floor.  
“Where’s Yukhei?” Jaemin asks, shutting the door and going to lay on Yangyang’s bed.  
“He’s trying to buy Renjun an anniversary gift,” Yangyang replies, getting up to sit down on his bed.  
“Boys are stupid,” Jaemin sighs, laying his head on Yangyang’s lap.  
“What’d Donghyuck do this time?”  
“He kissed me.”  
“Are you serious? Why are you so sad about that? You’ve wanted to kiss him since you hit him in the head with a volleyball freshmen year.”

Jaemin pulls out the note that Donghyuck wrote, which he put into his pocket before leaving.

“Oh,” Yangyang says, “I’m so sorry Jaem.”  
“It’s whatever, maybe I should just move on.”  
“Maybe, all you and Donghyuck seem to ever do is hurt each other.”  
“Yeah,” Jaemin sighs again, “But I’m not sure I know how.”

December 2, 2019  
Work the next day goes as it always does for Donghyuck. He shows up after his morning classes with very little will to live, but working in a cafe comes with the perk of being able to make yourself coffee. But it’s still a bad minimum wage job, so you win some and you lose some. 

Towards the end of Donghyuck’s shift, a large amount of the varsity volleyball team shows up. They’re all clearly exhausted and in need of either immense amounts of coffee or sleep, with all of them leaning towards caffeine.

Donghyuck and Jaemin haven’t seen each other since they kissed, and neither of them were prepared to be seeing each other. Jaemin especially was dreading coming here, but Yangyang and Yukhei thought it would be better if they saw each other outside of their dorm so it’s less weird. Despite this, both of them feel extremely weird. It doesn’t help that neither of them are currently at their best, Donghyuck is exhausted because of all the Karens who were upset with the amount of whipped cream on their hot cocoa and Jaemin is on the verge of passing out on the floor.

Donghyuck avoided looking at Jaemin while taking orders, but he felt Jaemin’s gaze on him. Once it was Jaemin’s turn to order, Donghyuck forced himself to look at him and immediately felt his heart break. Jaemin’s eyes are red and puffy, his shoulders slumped, and his hair soaking wet from walking here in the rain. Their eyes meet for what was only a few seconds but felt like an eternity to both of them, having gone that long without seeing each other after a fight has them both in shambles.

Jaemin stutters over his order, keeping his eyes on his shoes, while Donghyuck keeps his eyes on the other boy while writing his order down. 

Jaemin finishes ordering, leading to the Karen with her five children to start firing out her order while complaining about all the youth in the cafe.   
Once Jaemin and his friends all got their orders, they immediately left the cafe and returned to the rain on Jaemin’s insistence. And Jaemin was so preoccupied with keeping himself warm via his scalding coffee, he didn’t notice the writing on his cup.

_I’m sorry Jaemin. Come back home please._  
_I want to talk about it. I’m done running away from this,_  
_I promise._  
_-Donghyuck ♡_

Jaemin didn’t notice Donghyuck’s writing on the cup and threw the cup away as soon as he finished his drink. Yukhei, however, saw what was written on the cup. When Jaemin threw the cup away and continued walking, Yukhei paused and looked at the trash can.

“You okay dude?” Jaemin asks, turning around once he realized that he didn’t feel Yukhei’s presence right behind him.   
Yukhei looks at the trash can once last time and shakes his head softly. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

Yukhei catches up to Jaemin and the rest of them, and they just keep walking.

December 3, 2019  
Jaemin eventually returns to his dorm, but only because he was tired of borrowing Jeno’s clothes. He came at a time when he knew Donghyuck had soccer practice and could get all the stuff he needed to survive in Yangyang and Yukhei’s room for another week. 

Jaemin was about to leave when he saw a note on his bed, he was in the doorway at this point and prepared to leave without looking back. He looks back anyways and sees that the note is rather lengthy. He throws all of his dignity and self respect away, and goes to read the note.

_Hey Jaemin, I really hope you saw the_ _note I wrote on your cup_  
_yesterday and don’t completely hate me enough to actually come see me._  
_I’m leaving for soccer practice right now and probably won’t be back_  
_until 11pm or so. I doubt you want to wait here for me and I want to_  
_see you as soon as possible so please come to the soccer field to see me._  
_We really need to talk and I don’t want to do this over text or on the phone at all._  
_-Donghyuck ♡_

And as Jaemin has already thrown all of his self respect out of the window, he decides that he might as well go see Donghyuck. His heart is already in shambles, so he knows there’s not much Donghyuck could do to break it even more.

It’s a short walk to the soccer field, Jaemin knows the way there by heart at this point. He gets there quickly, despite the fact that he’s walking slowly in attempt to delay this interaction for as long as he possibly can. He sees Donghyuck alone on the dark field, dribbling a ball back and forth across the field. Six minutes, that’s how long Jaemin was able to put off seeing Donghyuck after reading his note.

Donghyuck spots Jaemin almost immediately, he kicks the soccer ball into his arms and runs to Jaemin. 

“You came,” Donghyuck smiles.  
Despite everything, Donghyuck’s contagious smile spreads to Jaemin’s face. “This is so fucking stupid and cliche, but I can’t really stay away from you.”  
“Glad to know that I’m not alone in my mild insanity,” Donghyuck jokes.

Jaemin can’t keep the smile off his face at all at this point, but he remembers why he’s here.

“Why did you want to see me?” Jaemin asks, the smile on his face slowly fading into a grimace.  
Donghyuck sighs. “I’m sorry about the kiss, extremely sorry. And I’m even more sorry about how I left things after it happened. I’m-”  
“Sorry. Yeah I know,” Jaemin sighs. “Look if all you wanted to do was apologize then I’m leaving. You made it clear that you were sorry that it happened.”

Jaemin turns around and begins to walk away, but Donghyuck drops his ball and runs to get in front of Jaemin.

“No, there’s more. So much more. It’s just, well I’m not good at this,” Donghyuck admits.  
“No shit.”  
Donghyuck runs his hands through his hair and sighs. “I care about you a lot. I know I’m shit at showing it, and if I’m being honest I just figured out how much I care about you and in what way. I care about you more than just a roommate or friend or enemy or whatever the heck we are. When we kissed was when I realized that I care more than I thought. I’m going to assume you feel the same except you aren’t as emotionally stunted as I am.”  
“What are you saying?” Jaemin asks, his voice softer than usual.  
“I, I like you. Like, romantically. Fuck I may even love you. I’ve felt this way since we’ve met but I just always thought that you made me feel like this because you frustrate me. Not this.”  
“Oh.”

The two stand together in silence, Donghyuck just looking at Jaemin while he’s processing everything he’s just been told.

“How dare you?” is what Jaemin finally says.  
“Excuse me?”  
“I’ve been in love with you since I hit you in the head with a volleyball that one day, and then two years later I’m still in love with you, live with you, and have you break my heart daily! I’ve been here this whole time but all you’ve ever cared about was soccer and arguing with me! Making me feel like shit!”  
“I’m sorry that I don’t understand my emotions!” Donghyuck shouts. “I’m telling you now! I’m sorry I put you through shit in the past, but it’s the past now!”  
“Fuck you.”

With that, Jaemin pushes past Donghyuck and runs. Donghyuck wants to run after him, but he feels stuck in place. Jaemin is gone and Donghyuck is standing in the middle of the soccer field alone.

December 4, 2019  
“So he told you he loves you?” Yukhei asks.  
“Yup.”  
“Then you got mad at him?”  
“Yup.”  
“And you ran?”  
“Yup.”  
“You’re an idiot.”

Jaemin sits up from his makeshift bed on the floor.

“I’m sorry, what?” he asks.  
“He’s not wrong,” Yangyang chimes in.  
“Yeah you’re pretty stupid for this one,” Renjun adds.  
“Okay, clue me in here please,” Jaemin says.  
“You got the confession you’ve wanted for two years and you’re throwing it away because you’re mad at him for being stupid and emotionally inept. You’ve known both of things about him since you met him and they never deterred your feelings in the past.” Renjun says. “So what changed?”  
“I changed. I’m tired of letting him break my heart.”   
“Your heart is still broken, the only difference is that now his is broken too,” Yangyang adds.

Jaemin sighs and looks over at Yukhei.

“I know I hate him but, I think he’s being sincere.” Yukhei sighs. “Speaking of sincere, I may  
have not been.”

All eyes in the room turn to Yukhei, who currently has a forced smile on his face.

“You know how the note in your room mentioned another note? I may have noticed there was writing on your cup when we went to the cafe and didn’t bring it up,” Yukhei says quickly.  
“Did you see the actual note?” Jaemin asks, his face blank.  
“No, I just saw the ink on the cup, I’m sorry.”  
“It’s,” Jaemin starts. “It’s fine I guess. I thought you were gonna tell me you fought Donghyuck or something.”  
“Trust me he wants to, but I told him I’d never get a dog with him if he fights Donghyuck,” Renjun laughs, looking over at Yukhei. 

Yangyang bursts into laughter, likely just due to all the awkwardness in the room building up, and Jaemin lets out a small chuckle at the couple.

Jaemin feels like he may be able to be okay. Once he talks to Donghyuck.

December 5, 2019  
Donghyuck is back at work, but he got blessed with a night shift, and as he works at a cafe only one or two people will come in every hour. It’s a solid shift, the only downside is closing alone. 

Donghyuck works on school for the majority of his shift, occasionally cleaning and barely serving customers. And by working on school, well Donghyuck is making attempts to work but just goes back to thinking of Jaemin. 

Thoughts of Jaemin and how Jaemin left him there on the soccer field that night and how Jaemin is leaving all of his texts on reads and how Jaemin’s smile is his favorite thing in the world and how Jaemin is so passionate about the things he cares about and Jaemin’s habit of decorating both sides of their room and Jaemin’s touch and kissing Jaemin and Jaemin.

As if by magic, as if Donghyuck is in a dream, Jaemin walks in. It’s nine pm, no one else is in the cafe and Donghyuck has an hour before closing.

Jaemin walks up to the counter where Donghyuck is still sitting and staring.

“Hey,” Jaemin says, his face void of emotion.  
“Hi,” Donghyuck replies. “What can I get you?”  
“A second chance,” Jaemin smiles softly. “Even Yukhei told me that moving on from you is stupid. He’s right. It’s unfair for me to be angry with you because you were unaware of your feelings. You know them now. I’m pretty damn sure that I’m in love with you Lee Donghyuck, and I’d like to see if I’m right.”  
Donghyuck chuckles softly, a smile quickly spreading to his face. “Absolutely.”

Donghyuck walks over to the other side of the counter and immediately goes in to hug Jaemin, burying his face in his neck. Jaemin immediately finds a place for his hands on Donghyuck’s side and feels all of the chaos and the fear and everything negative fade away for the time being.

They stand like that until it is time for Donghyuck to close the cafe, then they walk back to their room together. They talk about everything from volleyball to classes to soccer to friends to family and everything they possibly can. Once they reach their dorm, they both go to their designated beds, but they continue to talk until Donghyuck’s conciousness fades.

December 6, 2019  
Donghyuck wishes he could say he woke up this morning more confident than ever. He feels sick to his stomach, his mind racing back and forth between Jaemin and soccer. Jaemin takes priority.

Donghyuck forces himself out of his own bed and squeezes into Jaemin’s bed, cuddling the other boy.

“Don’t you have a tournament to get to?” Jaemin asks, unable to move as Donghyuck has a death grip on his waist.  
“It doesn’t start until six and the team isn’t meeting up until noon,” Donghyuck replies, placing his head against Jaemin’s neck.  
“God I confess and I’m suddenly stuck with the clingiest roommate in the world,” Jaemin laughs.  
“You confess? Is that what we’re saying?”

This goes on for a while, the back and forth between the two boys completely lacking malice. It’s all good natured and open love.

The two go out for an early lunch before Donghyuck has to leave. They discuss anything and everything, the conversation flowing easily even when Donghyuck grabs onto Jaemin’s hand to hold or when Jaemin out his arm over Donghyuck’s shoulders.

Hours pass, but they felt like longer to Donghyuck who was practicing and Jaemin who was actually doing homework. 

At six pm, the match starts and Donghyuck is mainly focused. He’s a bit confused by the large home crowd considering the Jung’s party and the attendance of the majority of the cheerleaders, but that’s not a major distraction. The distracting thing is Jaemin, who is just sitting there watching, obviously not that aware of the rules or what’s going on but he’s there. 

And he’s there the entire game. During the half time break, Jaemin looks at Donghyuck with a huge smile on his face and waves, putting an even bigger smile on Donghyuck’s face. 

The game goes by quickly, just like every other game, but this time after Kunhang shoots the winning goal and the game ends, Donghyuck runs to Jaemin and kissed him.

The kiss is short and sweet, and the two stand there looking into each others’ eyes for a bit. It’s a beautiful moment, but it gets ruined by all beautiful moments.

“I love you but please go take a shower,” Jaemin laughs. “You’re so fucking sweaty.”  
“That’s what happens when you date an athlete,” Donghyuck laughs, winking before walking away.


End file.
